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GamersFirst teams up with Adknowledge for virtual currency offers
Free-to-play gamers seem to have no problems paying real-world money for virtual items in their favorite MMORPGs. GamersFirst hopes that its customers will feel similarly about its new partnership with Adknowledge. Who, or what, is Adknowledge? It's the largest privately owned advertising network on the internet, and it's also the parent company of Super Rewards (and you may remember that name in connection with the infamous "offer wall" faux pas attached to Turbine's Dungeons and Dragons Online MMO). Adknowledge's AdStation program allows gamers to earn in-game currency by completing extra-game tasks including watching videos, taking surveys, and subscribing to various online services. This generates advertising leads for Adknowledge clients, and a new GamersFirst press release calls it "a great opportunity for us to get our titles in front of their vast global network." Said titles include APB Reloaded and Fallen Earth, but thus far GamersFirst has not released details on how the games will be affected. [Source: GamersFirst press release]
GameSamba adding an offer wall
The last time we heard the term offer wall around these parts, it was in reference to a Turbine initiative that sparked an outpouring of fan anger centered on Dungeons and Dragons Online. The company ultimately did away with the plan due to concerns over Turbine's third-party partner (Super Rewards) as well as the general shadiness associated with trading a player's personal information. Today, Realms Online publisher GameSamba has announced its own offer wall, this time in concert with Guppy Media and Peanut Labs. GameSamba's press release says that the new deal "complements [its] existing partnership with Super Rewards, which not only provides free offers but also allows access to over 100 global payment methods." Super Rewards, Guppy Media, and Peanut Labs are advertising firms that pay GameSamba for leads, in effect exposing GameSamba customers to various third-party products that they might not otherwise be aware of via surveys, special offers, and the like. GameSamba, in turn, gives Sambas (the company's virtual currency) to those gamers who meet certain requirements relating to the third-party advertisers. You can learn more about the arrangement on the GameSamba forums.
The Perfect Ten: Most controversial MMO stories of 2010
Well, this is it, folks. The end of the year. A time of reflection, of massive weight gain and of lists. Man, we like our lists, do we not? Fortunately, at Perfect Ten Industries, we've been excelling in lists for months now. Frankly, we're just getting warmed up! While 2010 may not have been much to write home about in terms of newly launched MMOs, there was more than enough controversy to keep the discussion brewing for months. MMOs are big business, and when every move you make is closely scrutinized by millions of gamers, there's no room to slip up unless you like forum hyenas pouncing all over you, snapping and snarling at your faulty flesh. So let's take a jaunt down our top 10 list of the most controversial stories of 2010 on Massively, keeping in mind that it was devilishly hard just to keep this list to 10 at all. What's a week without being riled up about pixels and polygons, after all?
Exploring Eberron: The Offer Wall is gone and Lars Heyton is a big chicken
Wow! It's been an interesting few days for Dungeons and Dragons Online, both on the player side and the development side. The community response to the now-defunct Offer Wall was huge, but not quite in the way that Turbine anticipated. Since the uproar consisted of an approximately 60/40 split between legitimate concern and outraged name-calling, the decision for today's Exploring Eberron was an easy one: we're going to look at the facts. On a much more fun note, last night was the second installment of Nights of Eberron, and a great time was had by all. Things were definitely more organized than during week one, thanks in large part to our very own Justin "Zergmaster" Olivetti and several fantastic OnedAwesome members who stepped up as group leaders. OnedAweseme now sports over 50 members, 33 of whom showed up to party last night. The guild formed their groups and headed out to tackle the Korthos Wilderness areas. How did it go? Follow along after the jump for the full story as well as discussion of the Dungeons and Dragons Online Offer Wall.
Turbine responds to community with removal of Offer Wall
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Turbine_responds_to_community_with_removal_of_Offer_Wall_M'; Two days ago, Turbine announced a new way of earning Turbine Points. We'd heard hints of this new method back at PAX East, and several of us at Massively were curious to see how it would work out. Well, we have our answer. The launch of the DDO Offer Wall was met with a pretty heated response -- a large portion of the Dungeons and Dragons Online fanbase was extremely displeased, to say the least. The problem was not with the Offer Wall itself, but the release of information associated with the Wall. The outcry kept the Turbine team hopping for the past few days as they attempted to do damage control, investigate the problems, and maintain communication with fans all at once. Two significant updates came down yesterday: the first scaling back the available offers on the wall, and the second removing it temporarily while Turbine looks into things. Today's update sparked another outcry from fans, but this one of thanks: "Overall it was a poor user experience that was not up to our standards, and for this we apologize. Based on your feedback, we're stepping away from the 'Offer' category for now." That's right, the Offer Wall is gone. Take a look at the full post as well as player feedback on this decision, and keep an eye out for tomorrow's Exploring Eberron as we look at the issue in depth. Finally, thanks to the Turbine team for the quick response to community feedback.
